My dog has a loose tooth. Are his gums healthy and what should I do?

Active chewing on a bone may well loosen and encourage it to fall out without resorting to anaesthesia and extraction. There are many oral tooth gels which help to improve hygiene and reduce the risks of infection for the remaining teeth but would be unlikely to help a loose, infected tooth

Hi there and thank you for using pet coach to address your concern. Judging from the pictures you provided, the tooth looks as though it was quite infected especially if it fell out on its own. A lot of times, teeth that are this infected that Fall out have also lost some of the root characteristics. By this I mean the roots will sometimes appear as though they are missing or very rounded and short as opposed to their healthier appearance. A lot of times these teeth will have a black discoloration if the tooth is dead or may appear black due to the Tartar and plaque that has grown on the surface of the tooth. Flushing with saline is fine and the hole where the tooth previously was should heal on its own now that the problematic tooth is out of the tooth socket. I would definitely consider keeping him on antibiotics and also do what we call Pulse antibiotic therapy. I did this with my own dog and would Place him on a course of antibiotics every other month at a high dose using clindamycin as my primary choice as it is very good for bone and dental infections. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions or concerns. I am also available by phone or text based consultation if needed.

Some of the toy breeds have fairly loose teeth naturally. If a tooth is so loose that it might fall out, then I personally would remove it. However, since I have not seen Stella's mouth, I cannot tell you whether it needs pulling or not., Clindamycin is a very good antibiotic to treat gingivitis, which could also be the reason for the teeth loosening. I suggest you give your dog the course of antibiotics and then discuss a teeth cleaning with your veterinarian.

Hi there and thank you for using pet coach to address your concern. This is an unfortunate situation. The recommendation would be to remove the tooth but with the concurrent heart disease it makes the decision difficult to put him under anesthesia. I will say, I have placed numerous pets with heart failure under anesthesia that did just fine. This just required an adjustment of the medications and careful attention to the heart monitor to catch any changes early. I would not suggest pulling the tooth at home. I would recommend continuing antibiotics every other month to prevent infection in the mouth. I might also consider speaking with a dental specialist about removing the tooth. Need Dental Specialists deal with many high-risk cases. I would also make sure that you are addressing the discomfort with some kind of anti-inflammatory. If Chico likes playing with toys, I would provide Chico with hard treats or toys to chew on. These Carter objects may help dislodge the already loose tooth. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any other questions. I am also available by phone or text based consultation.

There is no specific risk a part from possible (but unlikely) infection. A course of antibiotic would be beneficial anyway to decrease oral bacterial contamination. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. Please find the time to give us a feedback about the consultation as that will be used to improve our service.

Truly your dog needs to have dental cleaning under anesthesia to evaluate these teeth and clean up all the tartar and around the gumline. Unfortunately most of the time loose teeth need to be removed and it also sounds like your dog could have some gingival recession that needs to be evaluated. I would make an appointment with your vet for an oral exam and most likely they will want you to schedule a dental procedure. Brushing teeth at home is great and will slow buildup of tartar, but it isn't going to fix the problems that Tiger has right now.

It sounds like the tooth you are referring to is the lower left canine when I look at your picture, rather than an incisor. Because it is a canine tooth that is affected, I would recommend that you make an appointment and have your vet take a look. The canine teeth have very large, strong roots and leave large holes when they come out. I am glad that she is still eating, but it sounds like you do need to get her in. Even if she needs to have it extracted under anesthesia, this is a better option than opening her up to a potential infection, which could be very serious if it were to involve the bone of the lower jaw (mandible). There are also other changes your vet can look for that may have caused the tooth to become loose in the first place, such as a tumor of some kind in her mouth. Good luck with her, I hope this information is helpful for you!